What do we, as the community, need to do to save our neighborhood from over-development? Let’s take an obvious case in point: The Crystal Spring Forest project.
The project proposal ‘updates’ keep on coming, the community has voiced its overwhelming opposition complete with informed arguments. The process has been ongoing for years. The proposal has been tweaked by the developer. But, bottom line, Crystal Spring Forest remains on the endangered list. We keep waiting for the literal ax to fall. Why are we in this untenable position? Because at the stage of a project actually being proposed, the public is already at a considerable disadvantage. Strong opposition, well organized, seems to be having little impact at what is closer to the end, than the beginning of the process.
Once the basics of planning and zoning have been set in place, and the development chess pieces are locked in, the outcome is inevitable. Why is the community at a disadvantage? Because, unlike the project proponents, we are in unfamiliar territory. The developers, their lawyers and consultants, deal with planning and zoning, public policy, regulatory tools and the legislative process all the time. It’s what they do. They have no vested interest in our environment or in us, as residents. Their interest is in making a profit.
We, the community, need a community-friendly tool that informs us about the elements of these processes and lets us know when and how to be involved at the stages where we can make a difference. In effect, we need an early warning system.
Below you will find an example of a process flow chart that can be used by Planning and Zoning as well as other agencies involved in the Planning and Zoning development process. This may help give the community a clear heads-up (that early warning) concerning which step in the process is being worked on, and where and how the community needs to be involved.
The last two Town Hall meetings held by Alderman Arnett (the first primarily about the AYC project, the second about the Eastport Shopping Center), had the expected combination of platitudes, pretty pictures and heavy-handed marketing. The range of comments indicated concerns that the Eastport we all know may be on the road to extinction. Sure, part of that concern is a response to change, but much of it is well-founded and based on the fear that the developers are on the verge of taking over.
Leo Wilson, architect for both projects, offered the predictable platitudes about the benefits of the projects. But here are two things that were unexpected: First, both projects seem to have been cut back; second, during this last briefing, the one on the Shopping Center, it was as though Wilson separated himself from the project and placed himself in the position of an immediate neighbor, as if he would have to live next door to the project, would have to live with the building, the pedestrian and road traffic and all the impacts of a large building project. His design vocabulary focused on variable roof lines, waterfront community facades and concern for scale.
What am I getting at? Finally, it may be that attention is being paid to the importance of the context of the building, height, site density. Architect Wilson prefaced several of his presentation points with “What is Eastport?” That, of course, is the essence of everything we discuss on this site, Eastport Defined. Could it be we’re getting through, even just a little? Take a look at that chart:
In order to preserve and protect Eastport we need to involve ourselves in this process early and often. We need to understand the elements that constitute our community as a whole, as well as the elements of family and neighborhood that make Eastport unique and worthy of protection. One of those elements is Eastport’s diversity. Interestingly, the turnout at the town halls did not reflect that diversity.
So here’s a new additional challenge: How can we define our community or protect that community if we don’t have representation from the whole community?
As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome and will be responded to quickly.
eastport defined 